The Growth Catalyzer

Meet the 2025 NACD Directorship 100^™ Private Company Director of the Year, Jack Lazar, and learn more about his candid and growth-focused perspective.

By his own admission, Jack Lazar is not entirely comfortable with the spotlight. That’s why he was shocked to hear that he is the 2025 NACD Directorship 100^TM Private Company Director of the Year.

“What I’ve learned over time is it’s the power of the group as opposed to the power of the person,” Lazar said.

“To me, my reward is working with some of the great companies I’ve worked with and watching them be successful,” he added.

Applying Lessons Learned

One of Lazar’s nominators for this award, Christine Gorjanc, a director and the audit committee chair of Polestar, noted that Lazar is a “catalyst for growth,” transparent, and candid. With the view that people come first and business second, Lazar believes that directness is important to building relationships and getting the right people involved.

“As I like to tell people, I’ve made all the mistakes you’re about to make, and a couple many times over,” Lazar said.

Lazar arrived in Silicon Valley in 1983 to attend Santa Clara University. Since then, he pointed out, the world has seen an economic boom driven largely by technology companies, private companies that went public, and those that were acquired by larger companies over the years.

Lazar now has more than 35 years of Silicon Valley experience, having served as a chief financial officer (CFO) at multiple private and public companies. Lazar held executive roles at Apptitude, Atheros Communications, Electronics for Imaging, GoPro, Qualcomm, and NetRatings. He was part of the teams that took four of these companies public and CFO for three of the initial public offerings.

When the time came to shift away from operating roles, his next step seemed obvious: Find board opportunities at companies navigating the path to going public. At first, Lazar said he didn’t know exactly what to do or how to do it.

“It was like developing a new business, and I think that’s what made it fun,” he said.

He currently serves on the boards of Astera Labs, Box, GlobalFoundries, Resideo Technologies, and Tonal Systems. He is audit committee chair for each of these boards and chair of the Tonal board. Lazar also serves on the board of the NACD Northern California chapter and is president of Santa Clara University’s accounting advisory board.

Lazar’s previous directorships include board service at Casper Sleep, Mellanox Technologies, Quantenna Communications, Silicon Laboratories, and ThredUp. In his operating and board roles, he has been part of more than 50 acquisitions, 10 initial public offerings, and a spin-out. 

Lazar was previously named to the NACD Directorship 100 in 2022 and CFO of the Year by the Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2008.

Ambition and Rigor

In her nomination of Lazar, Gorjanc wrote that his leadership style takes a “founder-friendly approach that bridges entrepreneurial ambition with institutional rigor.” As chair at Tonal, for example, Lazar helmed board professionalization efforts by zeroing in on “board composition, committee formation, and accountability frameworks,” Gorjanc wrote.

What Lazar enjoys about working with entrepreneurs is their curiosity and their ability to ask questions that others would not. As a former CFO and current board member, Lazar brings a focus on the business model—and a level head.

“His mature confidence empowers him to lead decisively, even amid uncertainty, while his informed judgment ensures those decisions are always grounded in rigorous analysis and practical wisdom,” wrote Bethany Mayer, chair of Box and a board member at Astera Labs, in a recommendation letter.

When the companies he serves came to him this spring with questions about tariff impacts, he recommended they start planning but look at the tariffs again in 30 days when things might be clearer.

“’We’ve got a good business. Let’s take a logical approach to it,’” Lazar recounted telling the firms. “That’s the role of a board member in many ways, to say, ‘Take that step back,’ and say, ‘We’re looking at it at a different level from you.’”

He also believes in holding strong to one’s values to be successful. Every year, Lazar undertakes what he calls a “values exercise” in which he reduces a large set of words to the five core values that define him. Integrity is one that Lazar will not sacrifice.

“His authentic, humble nature is cherished by all who know him,” wrote Nadia Ahmad, director of client relations at KPMG. “He’ll likely laugh at hearing that—but that’s just Jack.” ■

This article is from the winter 2026 issue of Directorship.

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